{"id":774,"date":"2013-03-18T11:15:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-18T15:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tr10023.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2014-01-23T10:13:38","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T15:13:38","slug":"executive-suite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.tr10023.com\/?p=774","title":{"rendered":"‘Executive Suite’: Life and Death at the Top"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Executive<\/a>

Executive Suite Poster: Funny, but misleading. That chick with Bill Holden on the upper left is supposed to be June Allyson — she looks more like va-va-va-voom Elaine Stewart from ‘The Bad and the Beautiful.’<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Metro’s classy 1954 boardroom drama, “Executive Suite,” never gets the respect it deserves. The picture is engrossing from the first moment till the last shot. \u00a0It opens with sounds of traffic and pedestrians over which veteran television anchorman, Chet Huntley, announces:<\/p>\n

It is always up there, close to the clouds, on the topmost floors of the sky-reaching towers of big business. And because it is high in the sky, you may think that those who work there are somehow above and beyond the tensions and temptations of the lower floors. This is to say\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0that it isn’t so.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Executive<\/a>

BONNG!<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Immediately after, you hear a great bell in a clock tower roll out a big, sonorous D: \u00a0BONNG!<\/em> \u00a0EXECUTIVE SUITE <\/strong><\/p>\n

Then another BONNG!<\/em> \u00a0WILLIAM HOLDEN<\/strong>; BONNG!<\/em> JUNE ALLYSON<\/strong>; BONNG!<\/em> \u00a0BARBARA STANWYCK<\/strong> BONNG!<\/em>. . . and so on through the all-star cast. \u00a0It’s incredibly portentous, and even a little bit silly, in a nice way.<\/p>\n

The director, Robert Wise, stages the opening scene in an unusually imaginative way for a big studio picture: \u00a0the POV puts us in the shoes of Avery Bullard, dynamic president of the Tredway Corporation (a furniture manufacturing concern). \u00a0He has just finished a meeting on Wall Street and is now on his way back to his headquarters in Pennsylvania. \u00a0First, he stops in at the Western Union office in the lobby. \u00a0We see only his hands as he writes out the following:<\/p>\n

\"Avery<\/a>

Avery Bullard sends his final wire.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

He hands it to the telegrapher. \u00a0We hear him say “Straight wire.” \u00a0He pays, we go out onto the street with him (we’re still in his shoes), he hails a taxi . . . then the son of a bitch drops dead of a stroke in the midday sun. \u00a0His wallet flies out of his hand as he falls; a passerby scoops it up, pockets the cash and throws his billfold away in a wire trash basket. \u00a0From this opening sequence till the last frame, it’s a non-stop joy ride, skillfully directed and acted, cleverly plotted and scripted.<\/p>\n

\"Fredric<\/a>

Fredric March, William Holden, Walter Pidgeon — Contenders three: conniving bean-counter, crusading hero, weak sister.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

The sudden death of Bullard leaves the top position at Tredway open for five ambitious veeps to snarl over, which makes up the balance of the picture. \u00a0Along with all the corporate jiggery-pokery and hanky-panky, it also offers a prescient commentary about the wrong path down which American business was heading in the post-War boom years, and (ahem) still is. The depiction of how businessmen work their swindles and advance their careers is necessarily simplified and steamed-up — but the central argument of the picture is sound. \u00a0It’s one of the most enjoyable movies I know. \u00a0I liked it the first time I saw it, but repeated viewings have made me like it more and more. Most unusually, the movie has no score other than the loud tolling of the clock that is housed in Tredway Corp.’s\u00a0gothic deco headquarters (known as “The Tower”).\u00a0 The movie’s climax is a board meeting at 6:00 p.m. the following day, so throughout the movie, dramatic scenes are punctuated by the tolling of this clock, which lets us know how near we are to the dramatic conclusion.\u00a0 It’s an all star cast headed by William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Louis Calhern, Paul Douglas, Shelley Winters and several others, and they really know how to slice the bologna thin. \u00a0As the late Bullard’s secretary, Nina Foch, in the smallest of the starring roles, gives the busiest performance. \u00a0She’s quietly, desperately in love with the man she worked for. \u00a0Apparently, he never knew. \u00a0Foch makes sure as hell we<\/em> do . . .<\/p>\n

\"Foch<\/a>

Foch — rhymes with bosh: Miss Foch’s hands work busily a day . . .<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

She was the only cast member to be nominated for an Oscar, of course. \u00a0She lost. \u00a0(At the time, she was married to that puling ghoul from the Actors Studio, James Lipton. \u00a0Strike two\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The script is by Ernest Lehman (who also wrote “North by Northwest” and “Sweet Smell of Success”), so it’s full of hard-boiled dialogue that’s a pleasure to listen to for its own sake. \u00a0Lehman didn’t get a nomination, unfortunately. \u00a0That year George Seaton’s adaptation of Clifford Odets’ “The Country Girl” (also starring William Holden) won best adapted screenplay. \u00a0Another Holden picture was also nominated, “Sabrina.” \u00a0“Executive Suite” was robbed.<\/p>\n

The picture is full of great star turns. \u00a0Shelley Winters is more controlled than usual and is quite touching as the lovelorn secretary of her married boss, Paul Douglas, who always looks like an ad for Alka-Seltzer.<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/a>

Paul Douglas, Shelley Winters: ‘Honey, it’ll be all right.’ Oh, no it won’t.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I could watch Louis Calhern in anything — he’s one of Peter Arno’s beefy businessmen, half-mast eyes on a martini & palm on a blonde’s caboose. Here’s a test: \u00a0look at the four images below and see if you can tell which one is the real Louis Calhern. \u00a0I chose these pictures, and even I<\/em> have trouble picking him out of the lineup.<\/p>\n

Number One:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"'Fill<\/a>

‘Fill ‘er up.’<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Number Two:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sizzling<\/a>

Sizzling Platter<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Number Three:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"'Look,<\/a>

‘Look, I told you I was busy. Wait for me at the bar . . . at the bar<\/span>!’<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

Number Four:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Makes

‘Makes you kind of pleased to be an American, doesn’t it?’<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

If you guessed Number Three, congratulations. \u00a0If you were here right now, I’d shake you a nice, bone-dry martini. \u00a0I’ll have much more to say about Louis Calhern at another time, in another post. \u00a0For now, have a look at this clip. \u00a0He always earned his salary fair and square.<\/p>\n